Welcome to Cyberspace
by RandyPandy
Summary: Two people of Cyberspace from completely different eras have a chance encounter. -Zero/EXE X-over-


I got bitten by a plot-Rabbid. Whoopie. Right before my big Bio test tomorrow, too...

Wait, did I just make a pun? -facepalms- Meh, people who haven't played Command Mission wouldn't get the pun. Anyways, on with the story!

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, except for this idea.

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Complete and utter bliss.

That's what the former leader of Neo Arcadia thought as he wandered Cyberspace. True, it may have been over 26,000 years since he had last had a physical body, but no one could deny that cyberspace was indeed a rather enjoyable experience. After all, he was with everyone: all of the Hunters, his Guardians, Zero, the Resistance, and such.

The only problem was that Cyberspace seemed to no longer have the passage to the real world, and it seemed to be completely cut off from it. X didn't understand what had happened; had Cyberspace simply run out of energy to allow passage into the real world?

He did want to go into the real world, again, however. Despite everyone protesting that since, it has been several thousand years, the real world won't be anything like it once was (after all, look how quickly it had changed in a few hundred years!), X couldn't help but desire to see the physical world again. A body also would be rather nice. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to be physical instead of data.

Blinking, the former blue Repliroid looked up as a strange sound reached his equivalent of ears. Was that the sound of teleportation? Curious, he hovered towards where the sound had come from, hiding behind a pillar as he felt the presence of someone who had never been there before. Normally, he would have assumed it was some poor Repliroid that had died, but no one had entered Cyberspace in thousands of years, and last time he checked, the Repliroid race had gone extinct. He never really understood what went on in that place called 'Heaven' (which he had found ironic), but apparently, the Repliroids on Earth no longer realized that they were Repliroids and not humans.

Anyways, X listened as the other being spoke. "Stupid warp... that's the absolutely last time I jump into random links. Netto-kun, where are you? Netto-kun?" The person stopped in his mumbling, appearing to search for something. "Static... Netto-kun must be out of range. What is this place? I've never been in this part of the Internet before... And why is it so green?"

...Internet? X remembered the term as something Dr. Light had used to describe the primitive Cyberspace, but it hadn't been used in thousands of years! Now extremely curious, he moved a little closer to the other being to see who exactly this was.

What he saw shocked him. This person looked incredibly like himself! True, the design was different in places, and there was some yellow coloring, which X had never posessed. X looked down at himself. True, his robes (which Zero called a "sissy poncho") were covering most of his body, but this person's resemblance to himself was amazing.

So, he decided to approach him.

"Who are you?" The person whirled and stared at him. X was taken aback by the bright green eyes; they were more youthful, but other than that, they were nearly identical to his own.

The other person tensed for a moment, forming a Buster (X blinked at this), but then relaxed. "Um, hi! I'm Rockman, but you can call me Rock."

Rockman? Okay, X was now officially creeped out. Never in these past 23,000 years had he met such an unusual person. Just what had been going on in the past 23,000 years? Nevertheless, he decided to play it safe. "Hello, Rockman. My name is X." Better not give his full name until he got more information about everything. At least, he hoped that this person wouldn't recognize his name.

"Um, X... Do you know where I am?" Rockman asked his lookalike.

X raised an eyebrow (or did the Cyberspace equivalent, at least). "I'm surprised you found this place. The last time we got a visitor was over 23,000 years ago."

At these words Rock paled. "What?! 23,000 years ago?! You're joking!"

"I assure you that I am not."

Rockman looked thoughtful as he listened to X's response. "I remember, a few years back, of hearing of an extremely advanced civilization that existed 23,000 years ago, but then had suddenly collapsed for no reason." He groaned. "Of all places, how on earth did I end up here?"

X looked curious as he examined his duplicate. True, this person seemed to resemble a Repliroid to an amazing degree, but he was quite positive that this wasn't a Repliroid. Besides the skillful data manipulation Rockman seemed to be capable of (at least, according to X's sensors), something just seemed... off. "What are you? You can't be a human."

"A NetNavi."

"NetNavi?"

"Yeah. We're AI programs created to assist humans."

"Humans? Humans are still around? I thought they went extinct after the Master died 23,000 years ago..."

Rockman stared. "That's impossible; there are billions of humans around! Netto-kun is a human!"

Looking troubled, X responded, "I'm only telling you what was true back then. True humans went extinct, so a race of Repliroids that resembled humans in practically everyway except for their heightened defense to diseases were created. They then forgot their origins and then started calling themselves humans, later. I'm just wondering whether your humans are these Repliroids."

"But..."

"But?"

"What are Repliroids?"

A dark shadow went over X's eyes. "So the true Repliroids are extinct then... I supposed it was only a matter of time. The world probably recovered when we weren't around. Repliroids are highly advanced robots that have the same intelligence and capacity for emotions as a human. They were a big deal back then." X sighed. "I miss being a Repliroid..."

"You're a Repliroid? But I thought you said that Repliroids were robots?"

"Well, I WAS a Repliroid... that was before I died."

At this, Rockman's eyes widened, and he took a step back. "You're a g-g-ghost?!"

Sensing that the poor NetNavi was about to freak out, X hastily added, "No, when a Repliroid or human dies, their "soul" gains an emergency physical form called a Cyber-Elf. These Cyber-Elves can exist in the physical world to a certain degree, but when their energy runs out, they can then only exist in Cyberspace. This was possible, because at some point during history, the Cyberworld and the real world merged. Apparently, they split again. Special Cyber-elves can be created that can interact when the physical world and the Cyber-world are merged, but most are created when people die. Many Cyber-elves aren't even able to exist in the physical world at all."

"...So you're a ghost!" Rockman looked like he was ready to run.

"I'm not a ghost!" X shouted, a little annoyed at being thought of as a ghost, running up and shaking the NetNavi slightly. "Does that feel like a ghost to you?!"

The Navi took a deep breath and relaxed, and X let go of him. "Sorry. I-I'm a little afraid of ghosts..." A small grin lit X's features, but Rockman didn't notice. "Anyways, X... what is this place?"

"Cyberspace."

"Well, duh."

"No, you don't understand. This is a section of Cyberspace that was blocked off for some reason. Even I don't know why, and I was one of the first Repliroids to actually have a physical Cyber-elf form before coming here. I'm still surprised that you actually managed to stumble into here." X shrugged.

Rockman looked at him. "One more thing. Why are you telling me all of this?"

Looking down at his digital boots, X sighed. "It's been really lonely, not knowing what's going on with the world. I mean, all my friends are here with me, but I've always loved the real world, and meeting new people. I think my friend Zero would describe me as a little stir-crazy." He laughed.

"Well, you don't seem to be a bad person..." mused Rockman. "I'll show you the link I came through, but I don't know if you can go through it or whether you can come back..."

X hesitated, before nodding. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Are you sure?"

X nodded.

"Alright then..."

It didn't take long for Rockman to lead the former Neo Arcadian leader back to the link that he had stumbled through. Just before they stepped through, Rockman suddenly froze and turned to X. "Wait... you said that only people that died when the two worlds merged could enter Cyberspace as digital data?"

"Yes... Why?"

"I..." the Navi was quiet. "I think... that might have been why..."

"What is wrong?"

"The reason normal Navis can't enter this place is because they already exist in digital data only in Cyber-space, right?"

"Correct."

"And the reason modern humans can't enter this place is because the real world is no longer directly merged with the Cyberworld, right?"

"Correct. What are you saying?"

"So the reason I was able to enter this place... is because..." He shook a little. "Only a few people know this, but I used to be a human. When I was a year old, I died. Papa did something to me that converted me into data and put me into a NetNavi body. Since I am technically dead, yet am directly part of the Cyberworld and the real world..."

"You're the first and so far only person in about 23,000 years to have the qualifications to enter our section of Cyberspace," X grinned.

Rockman sighed. "Figures. Something else that I'm unusual for."

X squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, I know exactly what you mean. Now, why don't we return to your world?"

The Navi nodded. "Alright." The two stepped through the link.

The moment they did, they noticed that the link was in an out of place location. Rockman pointed out that he seemed to be the only that could interact with the warp, as he'd seen dozens of Navis pass right over with nothing happening to them. He had thought nothing would happen if he had jumped over it. He had no idea how wrong he'd been.

Luckily, when the two reappeared, there was nobody there. X looked down at himself. "Huh, guess I can leave after all." Then he started. "Wah! It's colorful!" Rockman stared with a look akin to disbelief as X spread his arms out and looked up at the digital sky. "Wow! I haven't seen color like this in millenia!" Well, the Navi thought, he supposed it wasn't odd that X would react like that. He hadn't seen the world in over 23,000 years, after all. "This is great!"

The Cyber-elf looked around excitedly. "Wow... it's so advanced now...!"

"Oy! Rockman!"

Both NetNavi and former Repliroid jumped as a screen appeared in between them with the face of a brown-haired human boy in it. X blinked... The boy looked a like like Dr. Light in his youth...

"Rockman, where are you?! I couldn't contact you for some reason!"

"Sorry, Netto-kun. I jumped into a link over there that took me to another part of the Cyberworld, where I couldn't contact you."

"What link? There's no link there! You just suddenly vanished."

Rockman suddenly appeared embarrassed. "...Long story, Netto-kun."

The brown-haired boy, apparently Netto, blinked and then seemed to notice X. "Hey, you look like Rockman! Except... Rockman doesn't wear a poncho."

X resisted the urge to hide his face in his hands. This kid was just like Zero. "Are you Netto? Nice to meet you."

"This is my new friend, X!" the Navi said, gesturing to the person that was only half a head taller than him.

"My name is X Light," the former Repliroid said, giving a small bow.

Netto blinked. "You have a last name?"

X shrugged. "My creator gave me one. Said I seemed more human with it." Technically, it wasn't a lie, and it seemed to work.

"Who's your creator?"

"Um..." X did some quick thinking; there was an extremely high chance that no one knew anything of what was going on. If they didn't remember X's name, there would be no reason they would remember his creator's. "My creator's name was Thomas Xavier Light. I don't think you've heard of him..."

Frowning, Netto though for a second. "Nope. Maybe Dad might have. Anyways, nice to meet you, X! Where are you staying? How'd you meet Rockman?" He hesitated slightly. "Are you a bad Navi?"

X laughed, a teasing glint in his eyes. "No, I'm not bad! Actually, I'm not staying anywhere right now. I just live in the Cyberworld."

Netto stared at him. "That can't be safe, not with the viruses wandering around! What about your Operator?"

"I don't have an operator." _Unless you counted Alia._ But X had the feeling that wasn't what the boy meant.

"I met him when I jumped into that weird link," Rockman supplied. His eyes lit up. "Netto-kun, can he stay in my PET?"

"Lonely, Rockman?"

The Navi blushed.

"Well, whatever," Netto said. "So, how 'bout it? Want to stay in the PET?"

"Yeah!" Rockman added. "And I can introduce you to Roll-chan, Gutsman, Glyde, and everyone else!"

In all honesty, X had no idea what a PET was or who all the people the Navi named were. But it couldn't have been that bad if Rockman stayed there. "Alright, I'll take your offer."

Hopefully, the others won't miss me too much... but curiosity killed the cat, not the Cyber-elf, right?

* * *

Well, I had fun. I have a feeling that some parts of the fic contradict themselves. Blah.

Though I do want to make one thing clear: I left the ending open-ended on purpose and marked it as "Complete" because I'm not sure if I'm going to leave it as a one-shot or continue on. If I continue, I need to think of a better plot than X simply having culture-shock. I do have something, but it hasn't developed, and I honestly don't know if it ever will.


End file.
